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NBA Draft 2015 Lottery Standings: While you were sleeping April 16th, 2015

One more night in the season, one more chance to get those ping pong balls!

"Look at all the fans we have!"
"Look at all the fans we have!"
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

What an absolutely crazy last night of the NBA Regular season. Big changes in both the NBA Draft Lottery, and duh, the NBA Playoff seeding. Let's do it!

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What happened last night?

Winner Loser Commentary
1 TOR East 4 92 - CHA East 11 87 Kyle Lowry is ready for the playoffs, finished with 26/4/7/3
2 OKC West 9 138 - MIN West 15 113 Russell Westbrook (37/8/7/2), Enes Kanter (25/15/2/1), Dion Waiters (33/4/1/3/1) not enough to claim Western Conference playoff spot
3 BOS East 7 105 - MIL East 6 100 I don't know how hard you are trying when you let Luigi Datome drop 22 on you.
4 MIA East 10 105 - PHI East 14 101 Heat only played 6 guys, still won. Michael Beasley had 34/11/8/2/2.
5 BKN East 9 101 - ORL East 13 88 Nets do it, make the playoffs!
6 DET East 12 112 - NYK East 15 90 I expect the Knicks to get another frozen envelope this year.
7 CLE East 2 113 - WAS East 5 108 Cavaliers win in OT, Matthew Dellavedova dtops 18 pts, 12 ast.
8 CHI East 3 91 - ATL East 1 85 Two teams trying not to get hurt
9 NOP West 8 108 - SAS West 3 103 Huge win, Pelicans in the playoffs! Anthony Davis with 31/13/2/2/3 !
10 DAL West 7 114 - POR West 4 98 Two teams trying not to get hurt, part 2
11 HOU West 5 117 - UTA West 11 91 Oh man . . . Let's just move on
12 MEM West 6 95 - IND East 8 83 Marc Gasol is ready for the playoffs, had 33/13
13 GSW West 1 133 - DEN West 12 126 How many of these Nuggets returning next year?
14 SAC West 13 122 - LAL West 14 99 David Stockton with 5 pts, 7 ast, 2 stl off the bench

No time to explain, let's look at the Playoffs and the Draft!

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NBA Playoff Seeds:

Western Conference Eastern Conference
Team W L % Team W L %
1 Golden State Warriors 67 15 81.71% 1 Atlanta Hawks 60 22 73.17%
8 New Orleans Pelicans 45 37 54.88% 8 Brooklyn Nets 38 44 46.34%
4 Portland Trail Blazers 51 31 62.20% 4 Toronto Raptors 49 33 59.76%
5 Memphis Grizzlies 56 26 68.29% 5 Washington Wizards 46 36 56.10%
3 Los Angeles Clippers 56 26 68.29% 3 Chicago Bulls 50 32 60.98%
6 San Antonio Spurs 55 27 67.07% 6 Milwaukee Bucks 41 41 50.00%
2 Houston Rockets 56 26 68.29% 2 Cleveland Cavaliers 53 29 64.63%
7 Dallas Mavericks 50 32 60.98% 7 Boston Celtics 40 42 48.78%

Do you readers want a playoff preview? I can do one . . . it's not like I have Jazz games to write about now.

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NBA Draft Lottery Standings:

2014 2015 WYWS April 16

So every team stayed the same . . . except for the Brooklyn Nets (who made the playoffs, and thus dropped 4 spots here), the Dallas Mavericks (who stropped one spot -- but they are at 22), the Indiana Pacers (missed the playoffs, so gained 3 spots), and the Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls (gained 1 spot).

The only drama is that the Pacers and Jazz tied with the same record. This, for the second lotto in a row, the Jazz have to deal with a coin flip. Hooray!

What are the coin flip rules?

From the Wiki article:

In the event that teams finish with the same record, each tied team receives the average of the total number of combinations for the positions that they occupy. In 2007, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Portland Trail Blazers tied for the sixth worst record. The average of the 6th and 7th positions in the lottery was taken, resulting in each team getting 53 combinations (the average of 63 and 43). Should the average number not be an integer, a coin flip is then used to determine which team or teams receive the extra combination(s). The result of the coin flip is also used to determine who receives the earlier pick in the event that neither of the tied teams wins one of the first three picks via the lottery.

- Wikipedia, April 2015

Yes, so the Jazz and Pacers are #11/12, and normally that's a 2.9% chance and a 2.5% chance of a Top 3 pick. Added together that's a 5.4% chance, and because you gotta half it, the two teams now have a 2.7% chance. I do expect the Pacers to get a Top 3 pick this year because of the Paul George injury they sustained during the summer in the run up to the FIBA tournament. So now we know where they'll get it from.

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Western Conference Standings (for fun?):

Team W L % GB GL Streak Last Night Tonight
1 Warriors z 67 - 15 81.71% 0.0 0 4 vs DEN W
2 Rockets y 56 - 26 68.29% 11.0 0 3 vs UTA W
3 Clippers x 56 - 26 68.29% 11.0 0 7
4 Trail Blazers y 51 - 31 62.20% 16.0 0 -4 @ DAL L
5 Grizzlies x 55 - 27 67.07% 12.0 0 1 vs IND W
6 Spurs x 55 - 27 67.07% 12.0 0 -1 @ NOP L
7 Mavericks x 50 - 32 60.98% 17.0 0 1 vs POR W
8 Pelicans x 45 - 37 54.88% 22.0 0 2 vs SAS W
9 Thunder 45 - 37 54.88% 22.0 0 2 @ MIN W
10 Suns 39 - 43 47.56% 28.0 0 -5
11 Jazz 38 - 44 46.34% 29.0 0 -1 @ HOU L
12 Nuggets 30 - 52 36.59% 37.0 0 -2 @ GSW L
13 Kings 29 - 53 35.37% 38.0 0 2 @ LAL W
14 Lakers 21 - 61 25.61% 46.0 0 -3 vs SAC L
15 Timberwolves 16 - 66 19.51% 51.0 0 -12 vs OKC L
z - Clinched Conference
y - Clinched Division
x - Clinched Playoffs

There was movement last night. The Rockets went up 3 seeds, the Grizzlies went up 1, the Clippers went down 1, and the Spurs down 3. In bigger news, the Pelicans are in and the Thunder are out! Crazy, huh!

The Jazz were reeeeaaaallly close to the Suns, funny how it didn't look like that. Also, remember back in November and December when people were saying the Kings were this seasons' Suns? Haw. Haw. Haw.

All Jazz baby, next year.

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No Games tonight, the playoffs start on Saturday!

  • Wizards @ Raptors (ESPN)
  • Pelicans @ Warriors (ABC)
  • Bucks @ Bulls (ESPN)
  • Mavericks @ Rockets (ESPN)

See you all there!